CrossVision Testimonies of Gods Work
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David Clymore
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I went street witnessing using an evangel cube. We got a couple blocks away from the others and we saw an old man, he was a street vender selling cotton candy we started to keep going but we both felt the need to at least make an attempt to share the Gospel with him. We got his attention and he agreed to listen to the message by the time it had gotten to track 6 he had tears coming down his face. At the end of track 7 he had his hand raised and was praying to receive Jesus into his heart. We witnessed to others but this old man stands out. I still think of him every night.
That night at the worship service I felt like I was living in the 2nd chapter of Acts. People were telling about stopping taxi drivers to share the Gospel. A 22 year career missionary told of leading a person to Christ that day her first. This was as, I have said before, Revival in Action.
David Clymore
Friendly Baptist Church |
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Kent Faulkner
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My family and I had an awesome experience with God. He had laid on my heart in September that I should take the whole family on the next mission trip I was involved in so I began to seek Him on how and where. As I began to investigate options, the CrossVision Christmas trip was an obvious answer to that prayer. My wife and I have 4 kids ages 17, 15, 11, and 9 so its a wide age range and I had to trust that God would provide an experience that would speak to all of them at their level. I had been on many small team trips to Nicarauga and Guatemala, but this would be a different type of experience. Here's a brief list of God's handiwork on this trip:
. The Spiritual Preparation guide was a great opportunity to pull the family together and discuss and prepare before we ever left.
. The unity and relationships across 7 church groups involved was a unique blessing.
. God used myself and several from our church to lead several Acuna residents to Christ. Across the whole team of 7 churches, I believe nearly 200 people accepted Christ! Their openness to the Gospel was amazing via the Evangecube and an interpreter. It was like picking low hanging fruit! One night I confessed to God that I wondered if they were really "getting it" even though I had seen evidence through their sincerity and emotion displayed. God's response to me was "did you want it to be complicated? " The beauty of the gospel is that its simple enough to be explained to anyone in about 5 minutes. The question then is only whether a person is willing to accept it and let Him change their life from the inside out. God showed me that the resistance to the gospel we see so often in America is not necessarily the norm for other areas around the world! It gives more power to the challenge "Then He said to His disciples, The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest." Matthew 9:36-37.
. Seeing my younger kids (girls) engaged and loving every minute of the hard work, the relationship building with the local kids, the worship time at night was a great treasure to me. It was their introduction into the world of hands-on mission work (out of the country) and will be a foundation for them.
. Seeing my older kids (teenage boys) working with the teenagers their in sports evangelism was also a great blessing. This was something God used to cause them to get outside the box of the normal / typical teenage focus. In 3 days they built some great relationships not only with local Acuna kids but also with some fantastic Christian kids from other churches. I believe that God has planted some seeds in their heart through this work that will bear fruit as they grow in their walk with Him.
Praise be to God; He is faithful to answer prayers yet again. I'm hooked on the family approach because as a father I have no greater challenge from God than to pass the faith on to my kids. I can think of no better method than to go "on mission" together and experience God's grace in the challenges of mission work.
Many thanks to Cross Vision for making this trip "easy" by taking care of the planning and providing the spiritual prep material. All we had to do was get prepared, round up some donations, and get in the van and go. May God continue to grow and bless your ministry.
In Christ
Kent Faulkner |
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Belinda Hartung
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One of the things that is so incredible about this Christmas trip is that it is an opportunity that God gives us as parents to put the words that we say to our kids into action. It was a huge blessing on this trip not only to see what God was doing in my life and my daughter’s life, but to see family after family serving God together. We serve a God who knows our faults and yet chooses to use us over and over again. I am so thankful for the way he puts up with my mistakes and in spite of them he continues to give me opportunities to serve him.
In this month since I have been at home, God has continued to remind me of the responsibility that I have to be a godly example to my kids. It would be wonderful if I could say that I have been the godliest mother and that everything in my relationship with my daughter has been perfect since we returned. Wrong! However, I can say that I believe with all my heart the words of this verse “He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it.” I’m thankful for the way that God ministered to my daughter and to me on this trip and since we have returned. I encourage you to seize the opportunities that God gives you to be on mission with him whether it is in your home, your school, your job, or on a trip to Mexico. It is his desire to draw us close to him and to mold us and shape us in his image.
In Him,
Belinda Hartung
Friendly Baptist Church |
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Jordan Tew
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This Missions trip was an awesome experience for me. God was completely in
control of every aspect of this trip and this was very evident throughout the
entire time we were on mission.
What stands out the most to me was leading a man to Christ without using
the CD, but by witnessing to him using my words and the evangecube. After
presenting the Gospel and explaining other related Biblical truths he
accepted Christ. To think that he walked the same streets, saw the same places and
talked to the same people every day, and then to have God send him a missions team to
present the Gospel to him and it change his life forever is truly amazing!
This was not only something good to see, but by actually leading a man to Christ (along with the others on my team) gave me more confidence in working alongside of God, and leading people to Him. As a result, I am now trying to lead my lost friends to Christ by witnessing to them, and not worrying about the outcome. I am just trusting that God will be faithful and work on their hearts, and that my job consists of simply presenting the Gospel to them.
Another Miracle God did on this trip was the team selection. Every single person on this trip was completely different. However, being different never once got in the way of God's will for this trip. Everyone was in one accord the entire time of this trip, and grew deeper in the fellowship of each other and of Jesus Christ. It was just so awesome to see God's will worked out through a group of willing servants, even though some of us weren't professionals in the field or it was out first time... God used us all in a mighty
way.
There are so many more things to say about this trip. However, all I can
say now is “I can't wait to serve God in the mission field again”, and to watch
Him work in and through me again.
Jordan Tew
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Dalton Tew
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To tell you the truth, I don't know why I decided to go on the mission trip, other than God. I never wanted to go on a mission trip. The only thing that I did not want to do is go on a mission trip. I always just said that it wasn't for me. When I was offered the opportunity to go on the trip, I thought about it for about 1 minute, and then decided to go. I didn't know how I was going to make it, but I knew that when the time came, God was going to give me the strength. And He did. It kind of reminds me of a passage in Exodus, when God tells Moses to go and speak to the Egyptians, and he is afraid. God says that He will give him the words to say. Moses made up a bunch of excuses, but every time, God gave an encouraging reply. Well, that's what He did with me, He gave me the strength and the boldness that I needed, and my life has been changed forever.
I saw a lot of things this past week. I saw somebody have a satanic attack, I saw many people ask Jesus to come into their hearts, and I saw God use me.
I just want to say thank you for the opportunity of lifetime. Without you,
this would be impossible. You showed me the love of God. You showed me how to
open up and let God use me. Thank you. You know, the scary thing is, is that I can actually see myself becoming a missionary one day. I can actually see letting God take complete control of my life, and using me for His purpose.
Dalton Tew
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Paul Bryant
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Testimony
The mission trip this past Christmas to Mexico was my third trip with CrossVision and as always it was a very blessed time. We took a team of thirty people, many of whom were going on mission for the first time. Ten of our people stayed and worked in Acuna with Primera Iglesia and twenty drove to Allende every day to work with Iglesia Bautista Bethania. I was with the group in Allende. On this trip I learned that God's blessings don't always come the way we expect them to. Our church is involved in a continuing work with Iglesia Bethania and as such the work is beginning to change. While we continue to do as much evangelism as we can we find ourselves also engaged in the discipleship process. We are building relationships with people within the church, community, and surrounding villages that are very personal, they have become dear to us and we care about where they are spiritually. Last summer we would pick kids up in town on the bus and take them to Charco for VBS. Everyday a little boy named Carlos would stand as for out on the edge of the village as he could so that we would pick him up and he could ride the bus. He would get on, we drive around the block, and he would get back off. On this last trip we went to the villages, picked kids up and brought them back to town for VBS. That means Carlos got to ride the bus for the whole nine mile trip, which made his day. One day I was riding back with him and he saw a map that I had. I showed him where Allende was and he asked where I lived so I showed him that too. He asked me if I liked Mexico and I told him that I did. He then asked me if I liked Charcos, "Gusto Charcos? Es Bonita?" "Do you like my village, do you think it's pretty?" I told him I liked it because he was there and that he is the reason that we come there. He just looked at me and grinned real big. I would encourage every church to get personally involved with a church on the mission field and know the joy that comes from building personal relationships, after all it's a personal relationship with God that we want people to experience.
Paul Bryant
Youth/ Associate Pastor EMBC |
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Kristy Brown - 01/17/06
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I just wanted to share a little bit about the Dec. trip and how God worked in my life.
I want to start out with a confession about myself. I had never really thought that I was a selfish or greedy person until Monday morning when we were loading everyone up getting ready to head out. We hadn't even left the church parking lot yet when I had already made the decision that we didn't need to caravan with the other churches. I already knew my way to Mexico and to the camp... and besides, if we got there first we would get first pick of the beds and first dibs at the showers. I hadn't even made it half way around the loop in Tyler when God spoke to me ever so sharply and let me know that I was being very selfish and greedy. I felt so guilty that I tried to call you but your phone wasn't turned on (I got your voice mail) so I called Dan. I made arrangements with Dan to meet in New Braunfels so we could join the rest of the team. We had a VERY long lunch break and I am sure that the rest of my team was beginning to wonder what was the deal. We traveled with Dan and the others until we got separated when I had to get gas and the others were eating. We agreed to meet up with everyone at the gas station right before the border crossing.
We sat in our vans as the other church vans pulled into the parking lot and were very happy to see each of them. As we were all getting ready to pull out... my van wouldn't crank. That's right... the battery was so corroded that it couldn't make a connection. At that moment I knew that God was telling me, "You need to be last." We got the van running and made it to the camp only to discover... no beds. So now I hear God telling me, "Don't worry. You can share. This trip isn't about your comfort." I am sure that you can guess the rest of the story. My first night's experience included a medical clinic on the hill with no heat, a deflated air mattress, no sleeping bag on cold concrete, and no bath. God sure knows how to get your attention!
It was very humbling for me to realize that God was trying to teach me a lesson. Even though I came to Mexico expecting to see God speak to the Mexican people, he was talking to me as well. You know, we didn't get meat on our nachos, but boy, those bean and cheese nachos were so good! We didn't always have hot water for our showers, but, oh did that cool water feel good when we came in from a hot day of work. And at night, God created a situation where we all bonded together, at first for warmth purposes, and then because of friendships formed.
I shared with my group at the camp and at my church that I have made a commitment to God. During this year of 2006, I am going to consciously make the effort to go last in line on purpose. I will make sure that everyone else is served first. I will not take the last of anything. I will not wake up an hour early so that I can get all the hot water (You know I have 2 teenagers). God wanted to teach me that whoever wants to be first must first become last.
I look forward to another fruitful year serving Him! (...and the lessons He wants to teach me!)God Bless!
Kristy Brown
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Joe Ballard - 01-17-06
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It's hard to put into words what the Christmas Mission trip in Acuna means to my family. When the trip was first announced at our church we were concerned that our 8 year old son, Collin may not be ready. My wife Kristen and I have been on mission trips before and have told our boys repeatedly why we were going away. My oldest son, Drew and I went on the Christmas trip last year and he was awesome. However, we were not exactly convinced that Collin should go, because the last thing we wanted was for our children to be a distraction. Several weeks before the trip Collin kept expressing that he wanted to go. We continued to pray with the boys and do the spiritual guides preparing them for the trip. As Kristen continued to pray about taking Collin, the Lord gave her the scripture, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."
I started praying about 2 months before the trip that God would touch both my boys in a special way. Wednesday night at the end of a powerful worship both my boys had an encounter with God. The invitation was informal but powerful. I found myself down front on my face before God crying out to Him to touch them. I stood up and backed up without looking back. Someone touched me on the shoulder and pointed me to my wife. I could tell something was going on from the look on her face. I went back to her and both my boys were just weeping. God showed up and He got really close to my boys. We didn't ask them alot of questions about what they were feeling, we just kept reinforcing God's love for them. We praise Him for His faithfulness to answer prayers and His desire to touch even little children.
These family mission trips have strengthened our family. When our boys get older they will have the testimony about how they went on mission trips when they were young. Trips like these also help our boys understand better the blessings we have and hopefully develop in them a desire to be selfless in what they give to the Lord and passionate about getting the gospel of Jesus to other people. Thank you CrossVision for your leadership and concern for the families spiritual well-being.
Your brother in Christ,
Joe Ballard
Pastor
First Baptist Church of Mixon
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